Category: Guns

Ahab covers it here:

Read that very carefully.  They knew that the gun ban wouldn’t work, but they passed it anyway because they wanted to “start a national trend”.  It’s a perfect example of how the anti-gun mindset works, start small and spread.  DC wanted to impose their style of gun control on the entire nation; even today they still want to do that.

It’s never been about crime control.  Read the whole thing.

Joe Huffman makes a good observation in the comment in regards to my post the other day, where I suggested, in response to a “Mr. and Mrs. America, turn them all in!” scenario would be to plaster one up in my wall:

What will become difficult is to practice and receive formal training. You should be putting several hundred rounds down-range each month just for maintenance. If it becomes illegal to own then range availability as well as (black market) ammo prices will make practice nearly impossible.

Without the practice then you really won’t know if that 75 yard shot at the guard beside “the cattle car filled with Jews” will mean the release of the victims or your death. A 400 yard shot? Forget it. With practice you know what you are capable of (at GBR-2007 do you think I would have started off-hand shooting at the 400 yard plate had I not thought I would be able to make at least a few hits?). With this knowledge you can have the confidence to make plans and execute them.

It is my understanding that the “gardens of eastern Europe were well oiled” because of all the guns buried there. Even as tyrants of eastern rose to power, people were dragged off in the middle of the night, and the gulags killed their 10s of thousands those guns stayed buried in their well oiled graves.

To me, burying your guns is little different than turning them over. It’s only a victory in your mind. You must use them or you have lost them.

That’s a very good point.  Practice would be difficult or impossible, and skills would quickly deteriorate, rendering your firearm a short range weapon at best.  Another thing I hadn’t considered is that ammo has a fixed shelf life.  In 50 years, that 2000 rounds of ammo might no longer be viable.

I’ve never been convinced that a violent movement in response to a federal gun confiscation program would spontaneously erupt, but that action would occur through state governments either actively resisting federal power, or by leaving the United States entirely.  I think the place to start would be civil disobedience, as the Canadians are successfully doing with their long gun registration program.

I wouldn’t suggest burying firearms in a wall and then stop fighting, but to continue to push the issue.  While I don’t think most gun owners would have the stomach for violent resistance, I don’t think most people would have the stomach to violently enforce a gun confiscation either.  If a few states refused to do it, and brought the issue to a head, it might be enough to get folks to back down.  Most people aren’t passionate about gun control, and I think that could be used to our advantage if it ever comes to confiscation.

Someone with a lot of spare times needs to make a parody of this video.

The gun show bogeyman is back in the media at the Richmond-Times Dispatch:

Massengill, who headed the eight-member Virginia Tech Review Panel, said more-thorough background checks on gun-show purchases are needed in Virginia, if only to reduce the availability of guns for illicit purposes.

Private sales or trades at gun shows involving unlicensed dealers are exempt from background checks, which can turn up information on criminal histories and hospitalizations for mental illness.

Supporters of the exemption argue that data is lacking to show a direct link between gun violence or crime and private sales. Such sales often involve a single weapon and another collector.

Massengill, who describes himself as “a strong supporter of Second Amendment rights”, at least agrees that checks “could be eased by exempting background checks for trades or sales among family members.”  Gee, that sounds a lot like what we did in Pennsylvania.  Of course, that doesn’t mean it worked here, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t asking for Just One More Law.

But Massengill said even if a background check had turned up Cho’s name, Cho could have purchased weapons at a gun show.

Outlaw private sales now, or the Bogeyman will be able to buy a gun at a gun show.  It would appear to be that for Massengill, staunch defender of the second amendment that he is, Cho is the new Bogeyman.

Ryan points out some really amusing cartoons the ATF publishes on how to run a gun shop.